Gal Gadot in contention for the title role in The Bride of Frankenstein

With production halted on ‘The Bride of Frankenstein’ – the film intended as the second instalment in Universal’s Dark Universe series – it seems there may be a new, big name in line for the lead.

While it has long been known that Angelina Jolie was the studio’s first choice for the title role, it has now emerged that ‘Wonder Woman’ star Gal Gadot is also a contender to play the Bride, first portrayed by Elsa Lanchester in director James Whale’s 1935 masterpiece.

According to The Wrap, insiders close to the project claim Gadot is at the top of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ director Bill Condon’s wish list for the Bride, should Jolie withdraw over the production delay. (Her casting in Disney’s upcoming ‘Maleficent’ sequel may be a factor in this.)

However, it is stressed that no offer been made to Gadot at present – nor has a deal been locked in for Jolie, or for that matter, Javier Bardem, who has long since been confirmed for the role of Frankenstein’s Monster.

This new take on ‘The Bride of Frankenstein’ is pitched as a continuation of the ‘Dark Universe’ launched by this year’s ‘The Mummy’ – although, given the critical drubbing and only moderate commercial success of that Tom Cruise vehicle, it seems Universal are having a bit of a rethink, as the delays on ‘Bride’ might reflect.

However, director Bill Condon – who previously directed ‘Gods and Monsters,’ a biopic of ‘The Bride of Frankenstein’ director James Whale, starring Ian McKellen – seems keen to keep this shared universe at arm’s length, recently telling Collider, “what I’m doing is 100 percent making a really good monster movie. It has nothing to do with anything else. Nothing. Zero.”

Gal Gadot has not made any statement on the matter, so there’s no way of knowing whether or not she’d be interested in ‘The Bride of Frankenstein’; but after playing the most iconic female superhero of all time, there are certainly worse roles to move on to than the most iconic female monster of all time.

Having initially been scheduled to start production in February 2018 with a view to a February 2019 release, ‘The Bride of Frankenstein’ does not have a confirmed release date at present.

In the meantime, we can see Gal Gadot play Wonder Woman a third time in ‘Justice League,’ opening 17 November.

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